Across the Sand
No romance or no physical intimacy at all.
Closed door. No anatomical or crude language.
Estimated from the blurb · 0 reader votes
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Blurb
“Hugh’s imaginative worlds and tales within them never fail to entertain!” —Andy Weir, New York Times bestselling author of Project Hail Mary The first original novel from author Hugh Howey in six years, Across the Sand takes us back to the world of Sand , to a far future many generations after a disaster has destroyed civilization as we know it in a gritty post-apocalyptic science fiction epic, where four siblings struggle to build their futures amid the harsh wastes of endless desert. The old world is buried. A new one has been forged atop the shifting dunes, a land of howling wind and infernal sand. In this barren home, siblings Conner, Rob, Palmer and Violet daily carve out a future. They live in the shadow of their father and oldest sister, Vic, two of the greatest sand divers ever to comb the desert’s depths. But these branches of their family tree are long gone, disappeared into the wastes beyond, leaving the younger siblings scratching in the dust, hopeful for a better life. On the other side of No Man’s Land, Anya was born beside the abundant mines knowing her prospects would be to marry, have a family, and work in ore, in service to the dystopian Empire of the East. But when an atomic bomb delivered by a stranger destroys most of her town—murdering all her friends and community—she follows her father to a strange land of dunes to bring vengeance to their enemies in a desperate revenge plot. In this sprawling family saga, two families collide across the sand, and nothing for a thousand dunes will ever be the same.
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Dirty Red
Also built on revenge and morally compromised characters clawing for what they want, but swapped from desert survival to an intimate, romance-driven toxic love triangle.
The fallen kings
Another sprawling family saga where siblings endure war, loss and grief together, though set in real WWI history rather than a ruined desert future.
The captain of all pleasures
Keeps the revenge-driven plotting and harsh survival at sea, but swaps desert grit for a steamy enemies-to-lovers romance with a guaranteed happy ending.
A Distant Magic
Another vengeance quest with reluctant allies thrown together, though it trades sand-scoured grimness for magic, slow-burn romance and a hopeful close.
Shadow's Seduction
Shares the outsider-finds-his-people warmth of the siblings' bond, but it's a very explicit vampire-demon romance rather than bleak survival.
Silk and shadows
Built on the same slow, patient revenge for a family wrong and brutal violence, but centered on romance in 1830s London instead of dune diving.